July 20 2012

The notion of an “organic city” that is the result of a bottom-up building process by citizens instead of grand, top-down urban design is as old as the planning profession itself and has fascinated writers such as Camillo Sitte, Christopher Alexander, and Bernard Rudolfsky. The success of open-source software development has given these ideas new buoyancy. Can we draw lessons from Linux development for urban development? Can we compare the way we deal with land—a scarce resource—to how we deal with ideas?

The complexity of city life often leaves us little time to stop, think, and connect with ourselves. Come to the Lab and let Swanhild Maaß (Chen School for Taijiquan) introduce you to the Chinese practice of meditation, movement patterns, and martial art.

Free Space Berlin/Freiräume Berlin features an interactive online map that visualizes the locations of publicly owned plots of land in Berlin. A mobile workshop will visit six of these sites throughout Berlin currently undergoing a bidding or selling process to ask neighbors, visitors, and passersby what their vision for these free spaces would be.

Can open-source design be applied to architecture and urbanism? Join Joseph Grima, editor-in-chief of Domus, and Lab Team member Carlo Ratti for a conversation about the future of open-source architecture.